Farmers in these counties are eligible to be considered for assistance from the Farm Service Agency, including emergency loans, according to a news release. Farm operators have eight months from the date of the disaster designation to apply for assistance. More information is available for farmers at local Farm Service Agency offices.

The Farm Service Agency considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.

“On harvested acres, it was pretty good but when you factor in the spots you took out, it wasn’t that good,” Recker said.

He lost approximately 25 acres 25 acres of soybeans.

“I wasn’t as bad on the corn,” he added, indicating he lost approximately 8 acres of corn. “Beans were below average, for sure, even on harvested acres were below average. The corn was above average, so that was good.”

Aware of the declaration, he said he probably will not apply for the assistance since he has flood insurance, which helped him receive money back from the loss of soybean crops.

On Aug. 8, the acting Michigan State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture requested a primary county disaster designation for several Michigan counties due to losses caused by excessive rain that have continued since beginning April 1, according to a letter from USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday.

“At that time, USDA was unable to make a complete and accurate determination of production losses for the current crop year,” Perdue said. The Michigan State Office notified the National Office on Sept. 25 that all loss assessment reports were complete.

The loss assessment reports were reviewed by the USDA and determined there were sufficient production losses to warrant a Secretarial natural disaster designation.

In accordance with section 321(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, additional areas of your state and a adjacent state are named as contiguous disaster counties.